It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.Marcus Aurelius

Today’s blog post is about something that NO ONE ever wants to happen, but is something that everyone should think about… our final moment on this Earth, and the moments afterwards for our family and loved ones.

I was asked to review www.legalwills.ca and given free access to their site to do so. As weird as it sounds, I was REALLY excited to review for them, since I had not yet created my “Last Will and Testament” and knew how important this was now that I have a child. I feel that it is a part of sensible financial planning, just like waiting until I was done my schooling and somewhat stable before going off birth control.

BUT… it seemed like such a daunting task, to hire a lawyer, and make all of these decisions, without really knowing exactly what I wanted, or how to word anything. Additionally, I was exhausted with the chaos and joy of having a baby at home. I was even a little nervous about using the website, so I waited even longer, until my mom was here visiting to start.

“I’ve told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation”~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The first thing I noticed… it was REALLY EASY! Yup, that’s what I said, easy. Not at all what I expected. There was specific questions to answer, and they were either fill in the blank, or drop down menus. My will probably only took me about 20 min. I was able to assign a legal guardian, and state I wanted a trust set up for my son. From there I also did my Living Will, Power of Attorney and Funeral Wishes.

The thing that took me the longest, surprisingly, was my funeral wishes. This was the only step that I struggled with a little. There were quite a few repetitive things and non-applicable choices, because I had selected cremation in the beginning, but still had to answer questions about pallbearer’s, and casket types. I did ask my mom a few questions in regards to this one.

Once I had each step completed, I was able to have it emailed directly to me as a PDF. There is even the option to have it mailed to me via snail mail! Some documents require my signature in the presence of two adult witnesses to make it a legal and binding document and the site was very clear in their explanations as to what steps needed to be completed. Also, there is NO lawyer required!!!!

They are Canada’s leading provider of Will services and have been offering this service for over a decade, helping hundreds of thousands of people prepare these vital documents.

Here are the different services they offer, and their costs

MyWill™: $39.95 CAD

MyPowerOfAttorney™: $29.95 CAD

MyLivingWill™: $19.95 CAD

MyExpatWill™ (Canada/US/UK): $39.95 CAD

MyLifeLocker™: $29.95 CAD

MyFuneral™: FREE

MyMessages™: FREE

I currently have a one year membership (given to me for the purposes of reviewing), which could be extended thusly:

Add 1 year: $11.95 CAD

Add 5 years: $24.95 CAD (50% savings)

Add 10 years: $34.95 CAD (70% savings)

Add 25 years: $74.95 CAD (75% savings)

Lifetime membership: $124.95 CAD

Just so you know, on the website it states: Note that each person must have their own membership. If your spouse or partner would like to use our services to create their own documents, please log-out and let them join separately.

Albert Einstein stated that “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” I would recommend EVERYONE reading this right now, to think about, and make your final wishes known legally, just in case your tomorrow never comes. We all make plans, and put them off, but we never know what the future will hold.

With that, I leave you with the words of Benjamin Franklin: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”